1991 - 2000
Brian, Paul, Dom and Damien Rice form Juniper, having met in school. They go to college, play some weddings, 21st's and Bar Mitzvahs... and for a while have a Sunday night residency in the Kildrought Lounge and Bar, Celbridge. They meet Dave, who weans them off the Neil Diamond and Roxette covers. Band move into house in country, release EP, Manna, and two singles in Ireland. Damien leaves band, the others read about Chuck Yeager and his Right Stuff. They call the new band Bell X1. Bell X1 support Elliott Smith and Bon Jovi in the same 1 week period, leading to severe identity crisis, making small music with big hair. They make their first album, Neither Am I, in the summer/autumn of 1999 with Nick Seymour of Crowded House and release it in Ireland a year later, after much touring and a couple of old singles.
2001
Band take some time to indulge musical differences. Paul records and tours as drummer with Tipperary siren Gemma Hayes, Brian's away with Offaly hearthrob Mundy, and Dave and Dom join Richie Mullen of Lino Richie Carpets, Finglas, in touring cabaret show. Bell X1 regroup in late summer and write songs for what would become Music in Mouth in a house by the sea in Wexford.
2002
Second album recording starts in Ridge Farm studios in Surrey, with producer Jamie Cullum. After 4 weeks they move to the Fallout Shelter, London. The studio has no teapot!! Some moaning. The band take turns to make dinner. Some of it is shit. The world Cup happens. Mixing finishes in July and everyone goes away for a while. Come back and mix it all again. Borrow a friend's house in Kilkenny, record some more songs, play hurling, are laughed at by locals. Music in Mouth finally finished in December, a few days after the birth of Jamie's daughter Ellie, who was both conceived and born during the making of the record.
2003, 2004
The album Music in Mouth is released on July 21st 2003, to tremendous applause, and the band play with all sorts to try to flog it. Tom McRae, Keane, Starsailor, Aqualung and Snow Patrol show them the highways and byways of the UK and continental Europe. Songs from the record appear in many TV series, from Teachers to The OC, and at home the album goes double platinum, with four top 40 singles. In July 2004, the band gather in yet another house in Wexford to write a new record.
2005
Flock is recorded in Dublin and mixed in London, with Roger Becherian producing and Phil Hayes knob twiddling. A shrine to Daniel O' Donnell (Irish singing deity, ref Cliff Richard without ever having had a brush with cool) is created in the green room, Dave creates Pistachio Nut Shell Installation and mustaches are grown. The band take a break from recording and sell out a mini tour in the USA, where they record a live session for Nic Harcourt’s essential show on KCRW in L.A.
Flock is released in Ireland and hits the heights of #1 in the album charts. The band leaves Island Records and sets up its own record label called BellyUp records. A live album called Tour De Flock is released - it is a 2-disc compilation featuring 16 tracks from their sold-out gig at The Point Theatre, Dublin on December 1, 2006.
In 2008, Flock is released in the USA and the band appears on the St. Patrick's Day edition of the Late Show with David Letterman.
On 2nd October, Brian Crosby quits saying "It's been an extraordinary privilege to be in a band with your mates for more than 15 years. I'm really grateful for everything I got to do with Bell X1, for all the adventures we had and for the great support of our fans. It's been particularly wonderful to have connected with so many people and to have got to meet people all over the world doing what I love. I look forward to continue making those connections. At the same time I'll be applauding the boys continued success."
As well as promoting Flock in the USA, the band gets busy recording a new album Blue Lights On The Runway. It finally sees the light of day in 2009, with lead single The Great Defector becoming their biggest hit to date (no. 3 in the Irish charts).
2011
The band will release its newest album Bloodless Coup in stores and online on April 1 in Ireland, April 4 in the UK, April 8 in Germany and Benelux, April 12 in the USA and Canada, and April 26 in France. The album's lead single is “Velcro,” which the band performed on The Rachael Ray Show on St. Patrick's Day.
Whitewater Song
Bell X1 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'll find the pieces behind the couch
I dream we were slow dancing
I dream I knew your name
Between sleep and waking we're drinking flavored vodka in bed
And when I wake I'm all the King's horses and all King's men
I make wild laughing rivers
Above white water noise
No-one can hear my screams
I threw my eyes to heaven
And I asked for a sign
They said I can get back my yesterday
If I cross the date line
But I'm sick of all this hope
Sometimes the stars are not enough
I'm sick of all this hope
Sometimes the stars are too much
I make wild laughing rivers
From streams
Above white water noise
No-one can hear my screams
Quite please
The song "Whitewater Song" by Bell X1 talks about the struggles of trying to find and piece together the missing parts of one’s life. The first verse mentions how the singer is determined to finish a jigsaw puzzle and find the missing pieces behind the couch. This symbolizes their determination to make sense of their life and fill in the missing gaps. They then dream of slow dancing with someone whose name they do not know, symbolizing the emptiness and longing for something they cannot quite grasp.
The next verse speaks about drinking flavored vodka in bed, blending the lines between sleep and reality. When the singer wakes up, they feel broken and shattered, like the fragmented pieces of Humpty Dumpty. They long to make themselves heard and seen, symbolized by making wild laughing rivers from streams above the white water noise where no one can hear their screams. The singer then throws their eyes to the heaven and asks for a sign to bring back their yesterday, but the answer is that sometimes hope and dreams are not enough or can be too much to bear, leaving them feeling stuck and lost.
Overall, the song talks about the human struggle to find meaning and wholeness in life, and as we search for it, we long to make ourselves heard and understood.
Line by Line Meaning
I'll finish this jigsaw
I will complete this puzzle
I'll find the pieces behind the couch
I will locate the missing pieces that have fallen behind the furniture
I dream we were slow dancing
I have a dream where we danced slowly together
I dream I knew your name
In my dream, I had knowledge of your name
Between sleep and waking we're drinking flavored vodka in bed
In the liminal state between sleep and wakefulness, we are drinking vodka that has been flavored, while in bed
And when I wake I'm all the King's horses and all King's men
Upon awakening, I feel shattered and broken like Humpty Dumpty, in need of reconstruction from all the King's horses and men
I make wild laughing rivers
From streams
Above white water noise
No-one can hear my screams
I create joyous, boisterous rivers out of small and gentle streams, above the roar of white water, where I can shout and cry undetected
I threw my eyes to heaven
I raised my gaze to the sky
And I asked for a sign
I requested a signal or indication from a higher power
They said I can get back my yesterday
If I cross the date line
The response was that if I traverse the International Date Line, I can regain my lost yesterdays
But I'm sick of all this hope
I am fed up with feeling optimistic
Sometimes the stars are not enough
At times, the celestial bodies in the sky cannot provide sufficient solace or fulfillment
I'm sick of all this hope
Again, I am tired of hoping
Sometimes the stars are too much
On other occasions, the stars are an overwhelming presence that I cannot bear
Quite please
Please be silent
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: BRIAN PATRICK CROSBY, DAVE BRIAN GERAGHTY, DOMINIC MICHAEL PHILLIPS, PAUL ANTHONY NOONAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind